Risks of overseas cheap dental implants

You might have heard it from a friend or you might have seen a flashy website advertising cheap dental work in Asia. One thing is for certain, going overseas for dental work has been a trend in the past few years. Unfortunately that whilst the website might wow you with beautiful locations and claims to safe and clean dental implants, often it’s all a bit too good to be true. Especially if the practice you’re looking at claims to offer word class care, without the cost.

Although it is likely that in some overseas practices there are good treatment standards, many do not have regulated or entirely safe procedures in place. This means that whilst your initial care might be cheaper, you may end up with greater financial problems to deal with after.

So what are the problems involved in getting cheap overseas dental implants?

Outside of Australian shores you are not under the safeguards that Australian dental registration bodies put in place. This means that you can not be certain that your practice follows strict rules for cleanliness, safety and ongoing expertise.

In Australia, we have an extremely high standard for infection control in our surgeries and medical practices. This means that Australians often forget that in other countries infection can be a high risk when undertaking surgery. Dental implants require surgery so this should be a concern if you go overseas.

Medical experts have now documented cases of NDM-1, a superbug, in Australia. Superbugs are resistant to antibiotics and therefore difficult to treat. The cases in Australia have been blamed on the growing number of citizens who choose to have dental care in Asia, which is where NDM-1 emerged.

If you’re in a country where you don’t speak the language this can cause issues in clear communication. Whether this is with your surgeon, nurse or other carer it can be a problem in receiving the best care.

Most importantly, dental implants require more than a single week to be fitted properly. Unfortunately, when people choose to have them done within a holiday, everything hasn’t settled properly before the procedure is then completed. In Australia each stage of the treatment can be completed and given the proper recovery time before the next is initiated. Without a settled base, implants cannot fulfill their properly role and may be problematic in the future.

If you’re out of Australia then if something goes wrong you don’t have places to turn to for help. In Australia there are various paths to follow to seek help if something goes wrong, but if you’re overseas these are not available to you. Travel insurance and private health insurance will generally not cover you. It will also be more difficult for you to seek legal assistance.

If you choose to have cheap dental implants overseas then you need to consider all of the above and do plenty of research. Medical experts do not recommend this course of action, especially as affordable dental implants are now available on our shores.